


Phone Calls and Family

by deletingpoint



Series: Supernatural codas [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Episode: s12e13 Family Feud, M/M, POV Dean Winchester, Post-Episode: s12e12 Stuck In The Middle (With You)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 07:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9982577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deletingpoint/pseuds/deletingpoint





	

 

There really hadn’t been time to breathe in recent weeks. What, with cosmic consequences looming over Cas (and perhaps the entire world as usual), Ishim being an even greater dick than most angels, forgetting everything about everyone, Cas pretty much dying … It was really kind of a miracle they were still up and running. If Dean believed in miracles, which he certainly did not. So when they were finally back home even Dean himself noticed how clingy of Cas he had turned. Not letting him out of his sight. He tried real hard not to touch constantly though and usually it worked.

 Cas would stand up and Dean would study him behind his book until Sam kicked him in the foot to make him get back to work. Right. Clues on Kelly Kline. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to find her. They needed to, yeah, but since when have want and need been the same thing?

 Cas would go to make them all some coffee and Dean would squeeze into his space to help, as if filling one lousy cup was such a bonebreaking task. Brushing their fingers together. By accident, those things always happened by accident.

Cas would say he’s gonna stay up at night for research and Dean would stumble out of his room three times per night to get a glass of water, accidentally walking past the library where Cas was working.

Cas would breathe a little too rapidly and Dean would rush over, one hand settling on Castiel’s back or shoulder. And Cas would be fine. Well, he wasn’t in the beginning. The first night back they had sat, back against the kitchen counter and they had both fallen asleep. Cas had been tired.

He has been tired for years now, becoming more human-like with every stab, every time he chooses measly humans over heaven. It isn’t even a choice anymore, they are family, that’s how it worked and Dean knew it. He had prayed to Cas when the sun was saved and he didn’t die and mom showed up out of the darkness. Cas’s reaction when seeing him again spoke for itself. He hadn’t known. He couldn’t hear the prayers anymore. He had still tried when the government had them, just to kill time with something, Cas hadn’t mentioned hearing anything. Dean didn’t ask.

They hadn’t really talked since Ramiel, but the silence was warm and welcoming instead of the cold breeze after what happened with Billie. So Dean checked up on Cas in other ways, giving his best not to notice Sam’s overly amused smiles.

 

When they got a clue on Kelly Kline he didn’t know what to do. Obviously, Castiel really was fine again, but that didn’t mean anything.

“Dean, she is no threat to me if I should cross paths with her,” Cas said.

“Well, that’s all great and all, but what if she’s on some demon’s radar, or, or, angels’, huh? What then?” he fidgeted with his hands. They just didn’t know how _not_ to grab onto people.

“Then I will call you. We don’t even know if she’s there. It will be quicker if I go alone, I don’t need to sleep or eat. I won’t stay for too long.”

Uh-huh. Like he called when he was tracking Lucifer. Called Crowley that is.

“Okay, whatever. Just, don’t get yourself killed or something,” his fingers seemed to have a mind of their own so Dean squashed them into fists.

“Yeah, man, don’t do anything dangerous without backup.” Sam nodded from the other side of the war-room table.

“Of course,” Castiel confirmed and locked his eyes with Dean’s. Why the fuck did they have to be so blue and full of adoration and impossible to look away from? Dean gave a slight nod and swallowed when Cas’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I’ll call you.” And gone he was. For an angel with broken wings he sure moved quickly.

Dean knew he was gonna be fine, but it still didn’t feel right. Especially since he wasn’t the only one to worry about, mom was still god knows where doing god knows what. She hadn’t even bothered to stay more than one night in the bunker.

            Cas did call him, every day like freaking clock-work. No sign of Kelly Kline though, but there were new clues, new witnesses. Now Dean really wanted to find her so Cas could come home. Or find a case to take his mind off of things.

 

“Cas, hey,” he answers another one of those regular calls he gets and walks out of Sam’s earshot. It isn’t as if they were saying some deep secrets, but he just likes to hear Cas’s voice without watchful eyes. Or ears.

“Dean, hello. How are you?”

Dean smiles without meaning to. Really, it is ridiculous how someone could make him feel calm so easily. “Yeah, you?”

Cas explains what he’s been doing the previous day and Dean just listens to the warmth behind his words. “Have you heard from Mary?” comes a question in the midst of all the words.

Dean hides his smile and looks down at his feet: “Yeah, she’s been in contact. Not seen her face to face though.”

Cas sighs: “She doesn’t really know who she is or where she belongs, I can understand that,” Deans heart skips a beat. It’s not a new information, but still cutting. “Seeing Ramiel must’ve unhinged her, the demon from your childhood also had yellow eyes, right? It’s only been a few months for her, Dean.”

“Yeah, I guess. Just, she has a family to turn to or am I, are we just too … not that?” Great, that was an eloquent way to put things, Dean. Castiel still seems to get his meaning: “She knows, Dean, but … knowing and truly feeling are different I suppose. Hunting still seems to be familiar to her, perhaps you should try doing that together”

“Okay,” he hears Sam calling and moves back to the library.

“I should get back to work,” Castiel says with a sigh.

“Okay, well, stay on it. You get any leads you let us know. We’ll keep working it on our end.”

“Good luck, Dean.”

“Thanks, Cas.” He finishes the call, but can’t really seem to put it down. Those treacherous fingers are moving on their own again and opening the message bubble. _The best of luck to you too._ Those damn fingers hitting even send before he could stop them.

 

They’re already on the road towards the museum when he checks his messages. There are two from Cas.

  _Thank you, Dean. I hope it goes well with your mother._ And another just a smiley-face.

He decides to call her, let her in on the hunt. She says she loves him. It’s nice to hear, but does she really have to say it in every phone call? And then she says she’s still resting up or something similar. Dean ends the call quickly and scoffs at Sam. “She’s tired, resting from all the Ramiel business. It’s not like she’s the one who’d been dying, but she’s tired.”

“You think it hit her emotionally?”

“I don’t know what to think. Let’s just get to this case and worry about it later.”

It turns out to be a case with Rowena and Crowley and all sorts of family matters. In the end Gavin and Fiona will be dead soon enough, but also together. That’s more than some people get. They looked happy for that short moment. Lovers united.

He calls Cas.

Doesn’t really want to talk about mom’s weird acting, but does anyway the moment Cas asks him. He feels a bit lighter. The nagging feeling that something is wrong is still there, but it doesn’t eat up all of this thoughts.

That is until mom shows up and crumbles the family picture they had started to become. Ironically she does it with the same word: Family.

 


End file.
